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Route

Figueroa Street (left), Harbor Freeway (center), and S Broadway (right) night aerial from the south, with downtown Los Angeles in the distance. Figueroa Street turns and become less visible at the University of Southern California.

One of the longer streets in the city, it runs in a north/south direction for more than 30 miles (48 km) from its southern terminus at Harry Bridges Boulevard in the Wilmington neighborhood to Chevy Chase Drive in the city of La Cañada Flintridge at the north end.

After resuming at San Fernando Road, Figueroa continues to run roughly parallel to the Arroyo Seco Parkway until it reaches York Boulevard in Highland Park. Afterwards, it heads north to its terminus with the Ventura Freeway (State Route 134). A short, unconnected continuation of Figueroa runs from just south of Marengo Drive in Glendale to end at Chevy Chase Drive just over the city limit line in La Cañada Flintridge.

History

Figueroa was originally called Calle de los Chapules (or Grasshopper Street). Later in the 1880s it became known as "Pearl Street". The section of what is now Figueroa in Highland Park above Avenue 39 was known as "Pasadena Avenue" until Figueroa was extended through Elysian Park. The portion of what is now Figueroa between the Los Angeles River and Avenue 39 was originally known as Dayton Avenue until the Arroyo Parkway went through.[2]

"My Figueroa" development plan and 2028 Summer Olympics

The Figueroa Corridor Streetscape project is a city led effort to beautify and improve the boulevard by adding pedestrian friendly amenities. The beautification project began on 7th street in Downtown Los Angeles, by Staples Center and terminates at Exposition Park at USC. The project began in 2017 and was completed by the end of 2018.[3] It aimed to improve transit and pedestrian access, protected bike lanes totally protected by physical barriers, a more organized and efficient street by adding better signalization and signage, high-visibility crosswalks, transit platforms, more street trees, public art and wider sidewalks. The $20 million Figueroa Corridor Streetscape project was funded by a Proposition 1C grant.[4] After delays, work was expected to commence in the summer of 2016[5] and was expected to be completed by March 2017, when the prop 1C grant expires. [6] The Los Angeles 2028 organizing committee plan to use this corridor as a planned "Live Site", an area dedicated as a central pedestrian corridor, linking all of the Downtown LA venues together during the 2028 Olympic & Paralympic Games. [7]

References

^Lucas, Greg (2011-09-29). "The Streets of Los Angeles". California's Capitol. Retrieved 2017-05-16. Grasshopper Street – Calle de los Chapules – is now Figueroa which, in turn, is a tip of the hat to the former Mexican Governor Jose Figueroa.